Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine wine, 1/4 cup chestnut honey, water, cinnamon, and lemon zest in a medium saucepan.

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the seeds and the scraped bean to the pot. Bring to a simmer, stirring. Pour the poaching liquid into a baking dish just large enough to hold the pears.

Keeping stems intact, remove the core from the pear using a melon baller (apple corer) entering through the base and removing only the woody core and seeds. Trim the skin off the base only of the pear and place upright in baking dish. Bake the pears about 25 to 35 minutes or until tender. You must baste the pears with the liquid every 5 to 7 minutes. The skins should be crinkly. Remove from oven and let cool in the liquid.

Combine the mascarpone with the remaining 1 tablespoon chestnut honey.

Using a pastry bag, fill each pear at its base with the mascarpone.

Serve drizzled with poaching syrup.

Yield: 4 servings

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